Research on Child and Adolescent Development and Public Policy in Latin America

This commentary discusses the implication of child and adolescent development research for public policy in Latin America. As illustrated by the articles in this special issue, even though the research of child and adolescent development in Latin America is making significant progress, still more research is needed. Developmental research in the region faces the challenge of uncovering the mechanisms that affect child development in a context of high levels of poverty and inequality. In addition, researchers in the region should be particularly careful in using appropriate and rigorous methods, improving the design and adaptation of instruments that measure child and adolescent development, developing longitudinal datasets, and looking for causal evidence. Children and adolescents in Latin America will benefit from a further expansion of developmental research. Research in child and adolescent development using data from Latin America can advise policy makers and help improve the design and evaluation of interventions and public policies that promote child and adolescent well-being in the region.